OpenSearch/docs/reference/modules/scripting/painless-syntax.asciidoc
Nik Everett d03b8e4abb Implement reading from null safe dereferences
Null safe dereferences make handling null or missing values shorter.
Compare without:
```
if (ctx._source.missing != null && ctx._source.missing.foo != null) {
  ctx._source.foo_length = ctx.source.missing.foo.length()
}
```

To with:
```
Integer length = ctx._source.missing?.foo?.length();
if (length != null) {
  ctx._source.foo_length = length
}
```

Combining this with the as of yet unimplemented elvis operator allows
for very concise defaults for nulls:
```
ctx._source.foo_length = ctx._source.missing?.foo?.length() ?: 0;
```

Since you have to start somewhere, we started with null safe dereferenes.

Anyway, this is a feature borrowed from groovy. Groovy allows writing to
null values like:
```
def v = null
v?.field = 'cat'
```
And the writes are simply ignored. Painless doesn't support this at this
point because it'd be complex to implement and maybe not all that useful.

There is no runtime cost for this feature if it is not used. When it is
used we implement it fairly efficiently, adding a jump rather than a
temporary variable.

This should also work fairly well with doc values.
2016-11-09 07:20:11 -05:00

224 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext

[[modules-scripting-painless-syntax]]
=== Painless Syntax
experimental[The Painless scripting language is new and is still marked as experimental. The syntax or API may be changed in the future in non-backwards compatible ways if required.]
[float]
[[painless-types]]
=== Variable types
Painless supports all of https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/variables.html[Java's types],
including array types, but adds some additional built-in types.
[float]
[[painless-def]]
==== Def
The dynamic type `def` serves as a placeholder for any other type. It adopts the behavior
of whatever runtime type it represents.
[float]
[[painless-strings]]
==== String
String constants can be declared with single quotes, to avoid escaping horrors with JSON:
[source,painless]
---------------------------------------------------------
def mystring = 'foo';
---------------------------------------------------------
[float]
[[painless-arrays]]
==== Arrays
Arrays can be subscripted starting from `0` for traditional array access or with
negative numbers to starting from the back of the array. So the following
returns `2`.
[source,painless]
---------------------------------------------------------
int[] x = new int[5];
x[0]++;
x[-5]++;
return x[0];
---------------------------------------------------------
[float]
[[painless-lists]]
==== List
Lists can be created explicitly (e.g. `new ArrayList()`) or initialized similar to Groovy:
[source,painless]
---------------------------------------------------------
def list = [1,2,3];
---------------------------------------------------------
Lists can also be accessed similar to arrays. They support `.length` and
subscripts, including negative subscripts to read from the back of the list:
[source,painless]
---------------------------------------------------------
def list = [1,2,3];
list[-1] = 5
return list[0]
---------------------------------------------------------
[float]
[[painless-maps]]
==== Map
Maps can be created explicitly (e.g. `new HashMap()`) or initialized similar to Groovy:
[source,painless]
---------------------------------------------------------
def person = ['name': 'Joe', 'age': 63];
---------------------------------------------------------
Map keys can also be accessed as properties.
[source,painless]
---------------------------------------------------------
def person = ['name': 'Joe', 'age': 63];
person.retired = true;
return person.name
---------------------------------------------------------
Map keys can also be accessed via subscript (for keys containing special characters):
[source,painless]
---------------------------------------------------------
return map['something-absurd!']
---------------------------------------------------------
[float]
[[painless-pattern]]
==== Pattern
Regular expression constants are directly supported:
[source,painless]
---------------------------------------------------------
Pattern p = /[aeiou]/
---------------------------------------------------------
Patterns can only be created via this mechanism. This ensures fast performance, regular expressions
are always constants and compiled efficiently a single time.
[float]
[[modules-scripting-painless-regex-flags]]
==== Pattern flags
You can define flags on patterns in Painless by adding characters after the
trailing `/` like `/foo/i` or `/foo \w #comment/iUx`. Painless exposes all the
flags from
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/regex/Pattern.html[Java's Pattern class]
using these characters:
[cols="<,<,<",options="header",]
|=======================================================================
| Character | Java Constant | Example
|`c` | CANON_EQ | `'å' ==~ /å/c` (open in hex editor to see)
|`i` | CASE_INSENSITIVE | `'A' ==~ /a/i`
|`l` | LITERAL | `'[a]' ==~ /[a]/l`
|`m` | MULTILINE | `'a\nb\nc' =~ /^b$/m`
|`s` | DOTALL (aka single line) | `'a\nb\nc' =~ /.b./s`
|`U` | UNICODE_CHARACTER_CLASS | `'Ɛ' ==~ /\\w/U`
|`u` | UNICODE_CASE | `'Ɛ' ==~ /ɛ/iu`
|`x` | COMMENTS (aka extended) | `'a' ==~ /a #comment/x`
|=======================================================================
[float]
[[painless-deref]]
=== Dereferences
Like lots of languages, Painless uses `.` to reference fields and call methods:
[source,painless]
---------------------------------------------------------
String foo = 'foo';
TypeWithGetterOrPublicField bar = new TypeWithGetterOrPublicField()
return foo.length() + bar.x
---------------------------------------------------------
Like Groovy, Painless uses `?.` to perform null-safe references, with the
result being `null` if the left hand side is null:
[source,painless]
---------------------------------------------------------
String foo = null;
return foo?.length() // Returns null
---------------------------------------------------------
Unlike Groovy, Painless doesn't support writing to null values with this
operator:
[source,painless]
---------------------------------------------------------
TypeWithSetterOrPublicField foo = null;
foo?.x = 'bar' // Compile error
---------------------------------------------------------
[float]
[[painless-operators]]
=== Operators
All of Java's https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/operators.html[operators] are
supported with the same precedence, promotion, and semantics.
There are only a few minor differences and add-ons:
* `==` behaves as Java's for numeric types, but for non-numeric types acts as https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/lang/Object.html#equals-java.lang.Object-[`Object.equals()`]
* `===` and `!==` support exact reference comparison (e.g. `x === y`)
* `=~` true if a portion of the text matches a pattern (e.g. `x =~ /b/`)
* `==~` true if the entire text matches a pattern (e.g. `x ==~ /[Bb]ob/`)
[float]
[[painless-control-flow]]
=== Control flow
Java's https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/flow.html[control flow statements] are supported, with the exception
of the `switch` statement.
In addition to Java's `enhanced for` loop, the `for in` syntax from groovy can also be used:
[source,painless]
---------------------------------------------------------
for (item : list) {
...
}
---------------------------------------------------------
[float]
[[painless-functions]]
=== Functions
Functions can be declared at the beginning of the script, for example:
[source,painless]
---------------------------------------------------------
boolean isNegative(def x) { x < 0 }
...
if (isNegative(someVar)) {
...
}
---------------------------------------------------------
[float]
[[painless-lambda-expressions]]
=== Lambda expressions
Lambda expressions and method references work the same as https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/lambdaexpressions.html[Java's].
[source,painless]
---------------------------------------------------------
list.removeIf(item -> item == 2);
list.removeIf((int item) -> item == 2);
list.removeIf((int item) -> { item == 2 });
list.sort((x, y) -> x - y);
list.sort(Integer::compare);
---------------------------------------------------------
Method references to functions within the script can be accomplished using `this`, e.g. `list.sort(this::mycompare)`.